Datong has always belonged to the border town, nearly 700 miles away from Taiyuan Mansion in Shanxi, and its status has always been very special.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Datong as the Ming Dynasty to exterminate the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty of the town, the status is very important, Wei Duke Xu Da was stationed again, led the troops to exterminate the remnants of the Yuan troops, with the passage of time, the status of Datong changed again and again, and finally fixed as the barrier in the northwest direction of the capital, Datong is not only responsible for defending the Mongolian tribes of the steppe, but also defending against the Houjin Tartars.

Because of the importance of Datong's status, it has been prosperous for many years, merchants gather here, trade extends in all directions, and shops are lined up one after another, but this prosperous scene, with the rise of the Liukou and the decline of the Ming Dynasty and gradually shrink, especially when the imperial court is unable to pay the salaries of the sergeants, and the sergeants are forced to rob the people for their livelihoods, Datong's commerce and trade have suffered a heavy blow, and the prosperity of the past no longer exists.

After Zheng Xunrui ascended the throne, Datong regained its vitality and quickly became an important town in the mainland and the grassland, and its commerce and trade showed a blowout development, and the importance of its commerce and trade gradually exceeded that of Yulin and other places in Shaanxi, and in just over two years, Datong's prosperity and wealth even exceeded that of Datong in Shanxi.

Such an important place, it is said that heavy troops should be hoarded, but the imperial court did not make such an arrangement, the garrison of Datong is only about 1,000 people, and the local people's livelihood and trade affairs are all in charge of Datong Prefecture and the state and county governments.

It makes sense for the imperial court to arrange this way, the grassland tribe close to Datong is controlled by the grassland Tumut tribe, and the current Tumut tribe is basically subordinated to the imperial court, and there is very little contact with the Qing Dynasty, so strictly speaking, Datong is no longer the border pass of the Ming Dynasty, and its defensive type is naturally not so important.

Let's talk about the merchants and people of Datong. Including the scholars, the impression of the army is very bad, the looting of the former sergeants, the harm left to the people is too great, in order to be able to recuperate, but also for the rapid stability of the local area. The imperial court made the decision not to station a large number of troops in Datong.

Judging from the effect of the development of Datong in the past two years, the decision of the imperial court is undoubtedly wise and correct, and the commercial and trade taxes captured by Datong Mansion are the highest in the whole of Shanxi, and the speed of its development is the fastest in the whole Ming Dynasty.

To a certain extent, Huang Taiji's choice to enter the customs from Datong to loot is an unusually correct choice, but unfortunately Huang Taiji's opponent is Zheng Xunrui, which makes the Qing Kingdom have no chance to fight back and struggle.

An army of 20,000 led by Zheng Jinhong. I have arrived in Xiazhuang, which is only about fifty miles away from Datong Mansion.

The temporary establishment of the Chinese military tent, Zheng Jinhong looked at the map carefully, he was thinking about where the Eight Banners Army would enter Datong, the grassland close to Datong was not completely controlled by the Tumut tribe, there was also the power of the Chahar tribe here, and the Chahar tribe was completely loyal to the Qing Dynasty. It was for this reason that the Eight Banners Army chose to attack from Datong. It is sudden.

Except for the Ordos tribe, the grassland tribes are completely loyal to the Ming court, and the rest of the tribes, including Tumut, Yarkand, Turpan and other tribes, only tend to the Ming court, and have very little contact with the Qing Dynasty, but they will not openly confront the Qing Dynasty, which makes the situation in the grassland a little complicated. And the emperor's meaning is also clear, only by destroying the Qing Dynasty first, can we completely rectify the order of the grassland and severely attack those grassland tribes who try to be independent and not submit to the Ming court.

The best option for the Eight Banners Army to attack Datong was to start from Tucheng. Rush to Fengzhen, cross the Great Wall from the direction of Fengzhen, and then you can go straight to Datongfu City, but Tucheng is under the direct control of the Tumut tribe, and the Eight Banners Army chooses to attack from here, whether it will expose its whereabouts, it is difficult to predict.

Another route is to attack Fengzhen from the front banner of Chahar's right flank, and also cross the Great Wall from the direction of Fengzhen.

Other passes on the Great Wall such as Wayaokou, Yanghekou, and Hulukou can also be selected, but the Eight Banners Army, which is mainly based on sneak attacks, will never choose these places, because the distance from Datong is too far to cross the Great Wall from these places, and I am afraid that before the attack on Datongfu City has been launched, the news has been leaked, which triggered the vigilance of Datongfu and closed the city gate.

From this point of view, the two places of Tucheng and the front banner of the right wing of Chahar are the choices that the Eighth Banner Army can make.

Zheng Jinhong was biased towards the front banner of Chahar's right flank, believing that the Eight Banners Army would choose this place as a stronghold, launch an attack from here, take Fengzhen as quickly as possible, and then attack Datong Mansion.

This also means that the main battlefield of the army led by Zheng Jinhong will not be in Datong Fucheng, but may be in Fengzhen.

Now it is winter, the wind and sand north of the Great Wall are very large, many places are deserted, the climatic conditions are harsh, unless it is a businessman who is forced to do business, ordinary people will basically not leave the Guannei, even if they leave the Guannei, they will quickly go to the market town like Fengzhen, and it is basically a dead end in the wild.

Following the emperor's side for a long time, Zheng Jinhong's thoughts are different, he will never allow the conquest and fighting to be carried out in Datong Mansion City, because then Datong Mansion City will encounter a heavy blow, although this is the most beneficial for the army to set up an ambush, and the battle to exterminate the Eight Banners Army will be led to the outside of the pass, which is the best, Datong Mansion City has been unharmed by the entire Datong Mansion City, and will not suffer the slightest loss.

Doing so has high requirements for Zheng Jinhong, and even higher requirements for the soldiers under his command.

But Zheng Jinhong made such a choice.

Zheng Jinhong personally wrote a letter to the prefect of Datong, telling the prefect of Datong that the imperial army was stationed in the area of Fengzhen, and the news must be kept strictly confidential without the slightest leakage.

Zheng Jinhong has sent a large number of scouts to investigate the situation in Fengzhen, Tucheng and the front banner of the right wing of Chahar, these scouts are mixed in the commercial team, and after obtaining information, they will report as quickly as possible.

The army will not get out of the customs easily, unless it gets accurate information from the Eight Banners Army.

In this way, Zheng Jinhong wrote a letter to the prefect of Datong, after all, the scale of the 20,000-strong army is huge, and sometimes the government needs to come forward to help cover it.

Zheng Jinhong is a cabinet minister, personally led the army to Datong, received the letter of the Datong prefect was very nervous, and even did not dare to discuss the matter with his subordinates, he arranged many matters of the government, personally went to Datong Left Guard, which used to be a military camp, and the army led by Zheng Jinhong was stationed here.

The 1,000 sergeants stationed in Datong are distributed in five places, including Datong Fucheng, Datong Left Guard, Datong Right Guard, Yanghewei and Tianchengwei, Datong Left Guard, Datong Right Guard, Yanghewei and Tianchengwei are stationed about 100 people respectively, and the rest of the sergeants are all stationed in Datong Fucheng.

Zheng Jinhong chose to be stationed in Datong Left Guard, which could ensure that the secrets of the army would not be revealed.

The prefect of Datong secretly rushed to the left guard of Datong and met with the cabinet minister Zheng Jinhong.

Zheng Jinhong told the Datong prefect that he would prepare part of the spare grain and grass for the 20,000 army, because the march needed to be kept secret, and the army could not carry a lot of grain and grass, but the news must not be leaked, and the person responsible for transporting the grain and grass to the Datong Left Guard should be worthy of absolute trust, and the rest of the things, the Datong prefect does not need to care, once there is something, he will give an order directly to the Datong prefect.

The prefect of Datong is very clear about the relationship between Zheng Jinhong and the emperor, and in the left guard of Datong, he saw the murderous imperial army, and he instinctively felt that something big was happening, but he must not open his mouth to ask casually, as for the task arranged by Zheng Jinhong, he had to complete it to the letter.

Only five days after Zheng Jinhong arrived in Datong Zuowei, the scouts reported the news.

The front banner of the right wing of Chahar has been put under martial law, and no businessman is allowed to enter.

After receiving the scout's report, Zheng Jinhong was greatly surprised, the speed of the Eight Banners Army was too fast, faster than he expected, in his mind, it would take at least a month or so for the Eight Banners Army to reach the front banner of Chahar's right flank or Tucheng, which was only twenty days.

It seems that Huang Taiji has been prepared for a long time.

The grain and grass delivered by the Datong prefect had only arrived partially, but Zheng Jinhong had no time to wait.

The time has reached the middle of the month, seeing that the Spring Festival is about to be celebrated, Datong Mansion is very lively, but at this time, there are not too many people on the official road, and the merchants have already prepared the goods for sale, if they wait until this time to transport, then don't think about doing business, the people are basically at home at this time, unless they go to the town to buy New Year's goods.

Under such circumstances, the traces of the army marching will not be easily exposed, and the blockade of the border pass by Datong Mansion at this time will not cause too much shock.

Zheng Jinhong quickly issued an order to the prefect of Datong to transport the remaining grain and grass directly to the direction of Fengzhen, and naturally there would be soldiers to receive the grain at that time.

The rapid march began, and in order to keep it as secret as possible, Zheng Jinhong ordered the army to march day and night, and try not to show up as much as possible during the day.

The climate in the north has been particularly cold, and Datong has had several snowfalls, so the cold climate is a huge test for many soldiers.

Zheng Jinhong ordered all the soldiers to drink ginger water to keep out the cold when marching every day, and the flesh and blood could not fight against the cold climate, and all the soldiers must maintain their physical strength and prepare for the upcoming battle.

The deputy commander who followed Zheng Jinhong to fight was Su Manzi, the general of the Zheng family's army, when the army set off from the left guard of Datong, Su Manzi took the initiative to ask for battle, asking to be the vanguard and fight with the Eight Banners Army, Zheng Jinhong agreed to Su Manzi's invitation to fight, but he also warned Su Manzi that this battle was mainly an ambush, and his whereabouts could not be easily exposed, and all the Eight Banners Army must be surrounded and they could not be allowed to escape.

The 100 sergeants stationed in the left guard of Datong also followed and went to Fengzhen to fight. (To be continued.) )